Prodigal Son, or Coming Home Again

I was delighted to be asked to paint an illustration for the Spoken Word right before Conference! This was a neat opportunity. Thanks so much to Anya for once again coming through with great costumes, and to Lamar and Martin for posing in the "Bible clothes" and "Jesus shoes" and standing barefoot on gravel while staring into the sun. I enjoyed working on folds of cloth, and on stonework in the background. I worked more on composing the whole shot on this one than I have on many in the past. I wanted to give the composition more of a dynamic feel, both with the positive and negative space.

Car Crash in the Snow

I know this cop in my neighborhood, and his family was available to pose impromptu as well for this picture. Thanks a lot to the Winds, and to Randi for bringing her Hummer and acting the part of the irresponsible driver. She's really actually very responsible, and would never crash her Hummer into a car head on.

It snowed the day before I took the picture, and it snowed several times after I took the picture. When we got together for the photo shoot, though, all the snow was melted, and the sun was blinding. It made it a little harder to paint the feel of blizzard and chill. I think it worked out okay though. What do you think?

"Myself" in the mirror

Thank you to Stophiann for posing for me! It's hard to find black models, and she's one of the most beautiful models I could get of any race. I was very excited to paint darker skin. I love how browner skin has blue and purple undertones. Paler skin has more greenish undertones. No wonder black is beautiful!